Local nonprofit serves injured Marines in big ways

CAMP PENDLETON - This December, for the third year in a row, the
nonprofit Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund will provide a grant to
every injured or hospitalized Marine or sailor throughout the
country as part of its annual Christmas Project.

"We'd just like to spread a little holiday cheer," said Wendy
Lethin, director of business operations for the Injured Marine
Semper Fi Fund.

While the Christmas Project would be a major undertaking for
most nonprofit organizations, it is just one of the ways the Semper
Fi Fund has helped Marines and other service members attached to
Marine units who have been injured in combat or during training
over the past 2 1/2 years.

The Semper Fi Fund, which was founded in May of 2004 by a group
of Marine wives, has assisted more than 1,500 families with more
than 3,000 grants totaling over $6.9 million - a far cry from its
humble beginnings, Lethin said.

"When we first started, we didn't have a lot of money to go on,"
said Lethin, one of the original Marine wives who helped start the
nonprofit organization along with its founder and executive
director, Karen Guenther. "We all chipped in $100."

Two and a half years and millions of dollars in donations later,
the Semper Fi Fund has come a long way from handing out "Welcome
Home" bags filled with toiletries and phone cards to injured
Marines at Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton.

"Each Marine has different obstacles to meet," said Lethin, who
said assistance can be as simple as helping to buy plane tickets so
a Marine's family members can be with their loved one at the
hospital, or as complicated as completely renovating a Marine's
home to make it wheelchair-accessible.

Lethin said the goal of the fund is to help Marines and their
families with expenses that are not covered by the Department of
Defense or the Veteran's Administration.

"The DOD has done a great job, but there's a limit to what they
can do, and that's where we step in," Lethin said.

While the Semper Fi Fund provides Marines and their families
with immediate assistance - checks are generally given out within
days of when a family applies for aid - it is also committed to
helping Marines throughout the entire phase of recovery and
rehabilitation, which can take months or even years.

"We're with them a long time," said Lethin, who added that the
fund continues to help Marines as they transition out of the Marine
Corps or back into their unit.

"We try to meet any of their needs," said Angie McCrary, the
Semper Fi Fund's West Coast event coordinator. "We don't let them
go."

Although the Semper Fi Fund awards about $20,000 in grants to
injured Marines and their families every day, it does not hold any
formal fundraising events.

"It's all word of mouth," McCrary said.

However, she said, thousands of ordinary citizens have taken it
upon themselves to raise money for the organization on their
own.

"We get a lot of churches, lemonade stands - one person had a
barbecue and raised $15,000," McCrary said. "Every donation, no
matter how small, is so important."

Now through Dec. 15, service members and federal employees can
donate to the fund through the Combined Federal Campaign.

"It's a consistent giving that we can bank on," McCrary
said.

Lethin said contributions are welcomed and needed throughout the
year, not just during the holiday season.

"We continue to need donations," Lethin said. "It's such an
honor to help these Marines. We want to be here helping them as
long as we can."